Native students finally win the right to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies

In 2019, LaRissa Waln, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, was standing outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale wearing a purple graduation gown, holding her graduation cap as her senior class from Valley Vista High School in Surprise graduated inside.

She couldn't join the festivities because her cap was adorned with beadwork and an eagle feather, a traditional practice the Dysart Unified School District did not allow.

Caps and gowns could not be decorated in any way, and only school-approved, academic regalia were allowed on students' gowns, the Dysart Unified School District asserted in a 2019 story in The Arizona Republic.

Waln's experience was one of many that led to the introduction of House Bill 2705 in the state Legislature, which would allow a citizen of a federally recognized tribe to wear traditional regalia "or objects of cultural significance" during graduation in Arizona. A school district governing board could not say otherwise.

The idea behind HB2705 came in 2019 and was introduced by former Rep. Arlando Teller, D-Chinle. His successor, Rep. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, moved it through the Arizona House and Senate this year.

Blackwater-Nygren, D-Red Mesa, said she was honored to carry the bill through the legislative process after hearing how many Native students across Arizona were facing this issue. It made her think of how fortunate she was to be able to wear her regalia during her graduations without trouble.

"It's such a huge problem," she said. "I can't imagine going to a school where nobody already looks like me and then being denied to be allowed to wear your regalia. I can't imagine how that must feel."

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey on April 20.

"The fact that this is now written into law, I think will give people a certain amount of not just respect and understanding, but also cultural awareness," Blackwater-Nygren said. "This is something that tribal members practice and this is something that the state of Arizona needs to be aware of, especially with their large Indigenous population."

Waln and her family reacted to the legislation passing in an email response to The Republic, saying they are "excited for the future of Native American students in Arizona who will not have to face the same injustice and inability to practice their culture and religion.”

“We hope that HB2705 allows people, especially those in positions of authority, to recognize that to many Indigenous people the graduation ceremony is more than just a way to celebrate the completion of high school," they said.

"To indigenous citizens, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event and we recognize it as such by celebrating our youth and showing them that we honor their achievement by presenting them with their Eagle feathers, beaded caps, gowns, or stoles.”

'It was a major issue'

What happened to Waln in 2019 still affects her today, and she is still brought to tears whenever she thinks about her graduation experience.

“We lost a special moment in time and were forced to fight to protect who we are," the Waln family said in the email. "We wish it could have been different and that we could have celebrated in our cultural and religious way."

The Waln family filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Arizona against the Dysart Unified School District on April 24, 2020.

“We want people to know that this lawsuit was brought as a last resort," they said in an email through their lawyer, Glennas'ba Augborne Arents of Rothstein Donatelli, LLP, co-counsel with the Native American Rights Fund. 

"We seek a determination that our rights were violated and that we were treated unequally and unfairly compared to other students in Dysart Unified School District,” they said.

The lawsuit says the school district violated Waln's "rights to the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech, and denying them equal protection of the law," under the Arizona and U.S. Constitutions, the Arizona Free Exercise of Religion Act, and federal civil rights laws.

"Larissa's fight will have an impact not only on her and our family but will impact all of the Native youth that comes to celebrate after her," the Waln family said. "So they do not have to experience what she has."

The district court dismissed the lawsuit in March. The family filed an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in April, and their next assessment conference is May 19 to "explore settlement potential," according to court documents.

The Walns believe it should not have taken legislative action to allow Tribal citizens to wear traditional regalia at their graduations.

"School administrators should have simply embraced diversity," they said. "We are surrounded by different cultures in every direction we look."

Winning the right in Tucson

But for students and former students like Lourdes Pereira, it seems like policy changes are the way to go.

Pereira is Hia-ced O'odham and a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, and in 2018 she was part of the Tucson Native Youth Council at Pueblo High School.

She said during a discussion about education, she heard several Native students from Tucson Unified School District talk about how they had concerns about not being able to wear their traditional regalia during graduation.  

Pereira said many of them would wear their regalia to graduation, then hand it off to either a teacher or family member before they walked across the stage to graduate.

After hearing these stories, Pereira said she started looking into how to change the TUSD policy, working alongside her friend Madeline Jeans. Jeans graduated from Pueblo High School in 2017, and she spearheaded the effort for Native students to wear traditional regalia within the TUSD.

Pereira recalls looking into the dress code policy for TUSD because she wore her traditional regalia often at Pueblo High School, and it was never an issue.

She felt the policy was contradictory because there were no restrictions for her wearing her traditional regalia at school, only at graduations.

'It was a major issue," she said.

Pereira and Jeans worked to get the policy change and by October 2018, they attained some success when the school board voted to temporarily change the policy. That started the process to change the policy permanently, which Pereira said took about six months.

Pereira and other Native students enrolled within the TUSD were able to graduate in 2019 wearing their traditional regalia without limits. The policy is still in effect with TUSD.

Pereira said it was disappointing that they had to fight so hard to get the policy changed because most seniors are spending their time planning prom or homecoming. She spent her time fighting a policy that wouldn't allow Native students to wear traditional regalia. 

"It was disappointing for myself to see that that's how our society works," she added, and it shows with the passing of HB 2705. 

"I think it's really disappointing to see that that's what we have to go through as Indigenous peoples," Pereira said of the bill. "It's unfortunate that we have to fight that hard just to have basic human rights, which is being able to wear our regalia."

Pereira, 20, is now a student at Arizona State University and she believes that policy changes like those at TUSD and in HB 2705 are important to fight for so future Native students can enjoy graduation.

"Now as Indigenous peoples, we are able to just go through those amazing moments of our lives being who we really are," she said. "It's going to be so impactful for future generations."

Local leaders praise bill passage

As HB2705 was going through the House and Senate, Gila River Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis testified in support of the legislation.

During his testimony in March, he said: "This legislation is important to the Gila River Indian Community and all Arizona tribes as public and charter schools across the State are inconsistent in how they treat the wearing of regalia, which creates uncertainty and frustration for our tribal students."

"High school graduation should be a time of celebration for graduates, their families and their tribes," he added. "At a time when the graduate rate of Native Americans in Arizona hovers around 67%, lower than the 77% average of non-Indian students nationally, graduation is a milestone that should be acknowledged by the entire community."

Lewis told The Republic the bill's signing was a milestone for Tribes across the state because "no Native American student should be forced to give up their culture during graduation."

"Our culture is the very essence of who we are as a People and, now, students won't be forced to decide between their culture and graduating with their peers," he added.

State Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman told The Republic she's grateful HB2705 has been signed into law for all of Arizona’s students,. 

"A child’s traditional or indigenous expression of self-identity isn’t just what they wear on the outside; it grounds them spiritually and promotes positive thinking and behavior, which is vital to their educational development," she said.

"HB 2705 is one small but significant step towards helping our Native students find balance in walking in two worlds and allowing them to acknowledge and honor those that have come before them."

Reporter Shondiin Silversmith covers Indigenous people and communities in Arizona. Reach her at ssilversmi@arizonarepublic.com and follow her Twitter @DiinSilversmith.

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